Władysław Raczkiewicz (January 28 1885–June 6 1947) was a Polish political figure and the first president of the Polish government in exile from 1939 until his death in 1947.
Wladyslaw, the son of a judge, was born in Russia. He studied in St. Petersburg were he joined the Polish Youth Organization . After graduating from the Faculty of Law at the University of Dorpat he worked as a lawyer in Minsk. On the outbreak of World War I he joined the underground movement for Polish freedom. He served under Josef Pilsudski, who built a private army that would gain Poland independence from Russia.
During the Russian Civil War, Pilsudski appointed Raczkiewicz as his Minister of Internal Affairs. Later he became Speaker of the Senate . When Poland was invaded by the German Army in 1939, he escaped to London, where he joined Wladyslaw Sikorski and Stanislaw Mikolajczyk to establish a Polish Government in Exile.
In February, 1945, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt held the Yalta Conference. Poland was the main debating point. Stalin explained that only a strong, pro-Communist Government in Poland would be able to guarantee the security of the Soviet Union. As a result of the conference the Allies withdrew their recognition for the Polish Government in Exile.
Raczkiewicz died in 1947.
